


One More Time, One More Time

by Yotsubadancesintherain5



Category: Ib (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 04:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20186089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yotsubadancesintherain5/pseuds/Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: Ib goes back, over and over, to save Garry.





	One More Time, One More Time

Ib wandered the halls of the gallery alone. The painting with the golden frame didn’t open up again for her, and so she wandered for a new way out.

She had to find it soon. Her stomach was beginning to gnaw, and when she walked for too long grey would encompass her vision.

Ib hadn’t found Mary again, and didn’t know if that was a blessing or a curse. Either way she kept her rose hidden and never called out for Mary.

She thought that she had found Garry again, when he led her away from the painting but he rounded a corner and she couldn’t find him walking again.

He was still asleep against the wall. Ib tried everything to wake him, from attempting to pull him to his feet, to shaking his shoulders, to shouting his name.

In one particularly bleak moment Ib considered going to get a ceramic bunny to frighten him awake but immediately discarded the idea. It made her feel cold all over.

The events that happened before played over and over in her mind. Being separated by stony vines, how they found out that Mary wasn’t a living girl, finding Garry surrounded by bunnies and babbling, what their roses meant, how they fell down, down and Mary held a blue rose, it was in shreds –

Ib grasped her head and shook. Her head hurt terribly, and she continued her way through the gallery. She had to find a way out. Someone could help, get her home and carry Garry to the hospital so that he could wake up again.

The search was fruitless. Ib worked her way back to where Garry was; she curled up to sleep beside him. Before she fell into sleep she clenched her hands together and wished hard for another chance.

-

Ib awoke in her own bed. It was the day she was to visit the gallery with her parents.

She practically raced out the door, to her mother’s amusement that their usually serious, polite daughter was so excited. She was going to make everything right.

Ib found Garry admiring one of the paintings but didn’t bother him; there was a sinking feeling in her heart that he wouldn’t remember her.

They never met.

But again the gallery was washed in darkness, and again she rescued his rose from a blue painted woman.

Ib thought, then, that she would become better friends with Mary. Better friends didn’t rip apart roses, and perhaps they could all escape together if bridges were formed.

But it all crumbled when they found Garry. He was speaking with the ceramic rabbits again. There was nothing to bring him back, no matter how many times Ib shouted at him or slapped his face.

She slumped down. But Mary was undeterred, and exclaimed that she wouldn’t leave Ib.

Even with the sincerity in Mary’s voice it sounded too sugary to be genuine to Ib’s ears, even more so when Mary decorated the area with makeshift streamers and fake pastries.

Garry stopped babbling after a while. There were blue rose petals scattered on the floor.

Ib felt something cold and poisonous grow into her heart. She glared at Mary, who was blissfully unaware and dancing as the court princess.

When Ib fell asleep the hatred did not leave her.

-

When Ib awoke in her own room she was methodical in getting ready. She ignored any cheerful conversation on the way to the gallery.

She was not a doll, and certainly not a plaything for painted girls to use in meager revels.

When she was sent to the haunted gallery again Ib kept her head held high, buried down any fears that she had, and rebuffed any of Mary’s questions.

But it happened again. The blue rose was in Mary's hands, and they followed the trail of blue petals. Garry was still trying to reassure Ib.

He fell, and Ib could barely stop herself from collapsing as well.

Garry said her name; it was not like the other times where it was said with worry or affection. This time it was a weak, bloody thing that was nearly lost in the rasp of his throat.

He said nothing more, and coldness went through Ib’s entire body. She futilely tried to shake him awake. It had to be different this time.

A lighter fell out of his pocket. Hatred bloomed in Ib’s heart, and she grabbed the lighter.

She found painted vines and burned them away. There was a painting on the wall, and Mary chased her, pleading for Ib to leave.

The flames engulfed the painting as Mary screamed and Ib dropped the lighter. Her hands flew to her mouth.

There was a pile of ashes. Ib’s breaths were fast against her hands, and a pitiful scream at what she done was muffled.

She wanted to run but she couldn’t move her legs. She had to get away, from where a girl died and the only evidence that she ever existed was the broken glass on the floor and a tarnished plaque. But she could not move.

Ib couldn’t leave this place, confront what she had an inkling of what would happen next; Garry finding her again, then disappearing in the depths of the gallery. She would find him against the wall. She couldn’t take that.

She was pulled apart in two directions, all of it painful, and she stepped to the doorway before falling down to her knees. She lay down and waited for sleep to overtake her.

-

Ib woke up and pretended that she was too sick to go to the gallery. She must’ve looked how she felt because her parents had worried looks, and made her take some cold medicine before they left.

The medical taste of it coated her mouth to add to her miserable state of mind. The hours ticked by until the sunset stretched across her room.

Ib kept her eyes open, listless in her mind, and she wondered when the hurt would stop.

She wondered if this would change anything, if her inaction would save Garry, but then she would never know and it would weigh on her forever.

And then, a jolt to her heart with the realization, that Garry always got his rose stolen by the painted woman. It felt like she had sent Garry off to the wolves.

She desperately tried to fall asleep.

-

Ib went through the motions again, and when they escaped the myriad of painted and sculpted monsters she did not collapse.

She staggered and it was enough to make Garry cry out in fear. He carried her to the safe room, and fretted over her, asking what was wrong. She sat in silence.

Something broke in Ib, and she began to shake. Her hands flew up to her mouth. She could see Garry’s worry deepen.

“What’s the matter – “

She couldn’t speak, if she removed her hands the monsters would come and she pinched her mouth so tight her face burned.

“Ib, breathe.”

Her breaths came out short, and tears quickly distorted her vision of Garry looking at her worriedly.

Ib sobbed and wailed and everything spilled out, lemon candy, a lighter, Mary, an endless tea party, broken mannequin heads, she couldn’t protect him, blue petals crushed underfoot, flames, ash, and Garry called for her, “But it wasn’t you because you were _dead_, I saw you _die_, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Garry reached out to gently pull her into a hug, and Ib wrapped her arms around him tightly. She shook in his arms.

“It’s okay,” his voice was so soothing, so understanding, that it just made Ib sob again, “It’s okay, sweetheart. You must be exhausted.”

She nodded, her voice too hoarse to be able to speak. Her heart was beating so fast it hurt.

Eventually her breathing evened and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When Ib woke up there was a coat draped around her and she still held onto Garry. Her arms were numb. She pushed herself up, and Garry woke up from his own sleep.

“Oh, I dozed off,” he said. He drew his hands down his eyes. “Ib, are you all right now?”

Something in Ib felt like it mended itself somewhat, so she nodded as she passed the coat to him.

Garry put it on as he got up, and he asked her, “Are you ready to go?”

At her hesitation he knelt down to her level.

“Hold out your hand, dear.”

She did so, and a small lemon candy fell into her palm. She closed her hand over it protectively.

“You can eat it whenever you like,” Garry said. He stood back up, his hand back on the doorknob.

“It’s scary out there but I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Ib had to trust herself that this time it would be different.

She took his hand and they walked out of the safe room together.

-

When Ib ran through the real gallery, looking for Garry, she caught a glimpse of a girl with yellow hair that was bright as paint, a girl that laughed as she walked with her father.

(Her hands free of a palette knife, there was another way, a strange painting that opened for all of them, Mary would walk under the sun-)

It was a twinge of a memory, bittersweet; Ib ran onward.

She found Garry standing by the rose statue. When Garry found her handkerchief in his pocket and said her name she ran to hug him so fast that he nearly fell over.

Ib cried as he hugged her back, but there was happiness with the tears.

**Author's Note:**

> It took me seven years but I finally got to play Ib for myself. Unfortunately since I've known about this game for seven years there were no surprises and I got the golden ending on my first try.
> 
> So I thought that if I played this game without knowing anything about it I'd probably reset over and over to get that golden ending. 
> 
> Even though it isn't possible in the actual game I wanted to give all three of them a happy ending.


End file.
